E-tailing: Order Returns lead to Customer Returns lead to Investor Returns!
eCommerce is one industry, where the word ' returns ' has various connotations - right from the order to customer and to the investor, as the subject says! Which is the most important out of these or are these just a mere 'cause' and 'effect' of the same purchase cycle? At Rs 13,000-crore , India's e-tailing industry accounts for just 1% of the total retail business. However, it's the fastest growing segment of e-commerce (non-travel) growing at 59% annually, as per industry estimates ( TOI ). However, profitability and eCommerce are mostly avoided in the same sentence by Industry experts. One of the main reasons is the claim of 'building' the industry in the initial few years (the quantification of which increases with increasing valuation!), owing to high operating losses for most retailers. One of the biggest challenges that retailers are grappling with are the returns, that can go upto the tune of 25% of the total o...